Splitting fans with his latest hunt. 2026 has already been a huge year for Cody Johnson, and it’s only getting better from here. Riding the highs of his first-ever Male Vocalist of the Year award at the CMAs back in November, Johnson would go on to break George Strait’s Rodeo Houston’s concert-only attendance record in March, performing to a crowd of 80,203. In case that wasn’t enough, he’d follow it up with an ACM Male Artist of the Year AND his first-ever Entertainer of the Year win earlier this month at the 61st annual ACM Awards. At this point in his career, it’s no secret that the “Dirt Cheap” singer is quite the avid hunter. In addition to frequently posting photos from his hunting trips when he’s off tour, this past September, Johnson actually became a world-record-holding hunter during his hunt at Covered S Ranch in Synder, Texas, when he took home a bearded ram (that’s typically native to Central and South Asia). It ended up being recognized in the Safari Club International record books, as Johnson explained in his caption: “I wanna thank my buddy Patrick Smith for introducing me to Chet Pharies with the Covered S Ranch. The experience I had there will go down in history, not only in the Safari Club International record books, but it will go down in history as my greatest hunting accomplishment so far in my life! I never thought in a million years that I would hold a world record, and I’m so grateful not only to Patrick and Chet, but to Mark and Andrew at the Covered S ranch for their hard work and preparation that made this hunt possible.” View this post on Instagram Fresh off his career night at the ACM Awards, Johnson packed his bags and headed to Alaska for yet another sprawling hunt — this time a 10-day journey deep in the Alaskan wilderness. As it turns out, it was a pretty successful hunt for the Texas native. In an Instagram showing off a grizzly bear he harvested and teasing a full video documenting the Chasing Legends YouTube channel coming soon, he’d call the hunt the “trip of a lifetime.” View this post on Instagram Though Johnson has caught some criticism on nearly all of his hunting posts over the years, this one in particular caught the attention of many fans and animal lovers, with many shaming him and expressing disappointment in the hunt. Besides some typical moral grandstanding of Johnson’s hunt, others were particularly angry that he was “showing off” the grizzly. Of course, this is commonplace anytime a country artists posts a hunting picture. There is always a certain segment of fans who are opposed to hunting, and there’s also segment of people, perhaps even more aggressively, who oppose bear hunting. “Poor bear, love your music but not this” “Rich dudes killing wildlife for fun and to show off. Awesome.” “Noooooo you are one of my favorite singers and this makes me want to cry” “Love your music but not this.” “Love your music … DESPISE being publicized. I understand efforts for population, etc. but … it is truly a beautiful animal that was hunted and this is NOT Mother Nature.” “You shot a bear? Zero cool points dude.” “This makes me so sad :( still love you though)” “Terrible posting this picture, doing it is bad enough, but bragging is unforgivable” The last one is QUITE the interesting life philosophy… in this commenter’s mind, killing a bear is bad, but apparently bragging about it the more egregious, “unforgiveable” crime. Would the same logic apply to people? Make it make sense… In addition to the comments above, some were questioning whether the hunt itself was legal. Of course, it absolutely was legal, with Alaska offering nonresidents the opportunity to hunt grizzlies following strict guidelines, which include not killing cubs and traveling during a specific spring season (among others) — all of which Johnson and Co. followed here. And of course, Alaskan wildlife officials determine strict numbers of tags that are given out in a effort to maintain a proper balance of the ecosystem. It should also be mentioned that fees associated with hunting, whether it’s licenses, tags, stamps, etc… directly benefit conservation efforts in the state of Alaska, and the same goes for every state around the country. Hunting contributes a significant amount of money towards habitat restoration, species management, and wildlife research. Though there were quite a few hate comments toward Johnson, plenty of other fans came to his defense — not only describing the aforementioned guidelines but also noting how Alaska itself allows this for conservation efforts. “Its so wild how bears trigger people more than any other animal. I blame Disney and Winnie the Poo. People equate beauty/cuteness to the value of the animal. And yet they dont understand how hunting is a tool to maintain a healthy, balanced, ecosystem. So they think its wrong. Im glad you have posted in this and exposed people to something humans have been doing eons. Its too bad everyones artificial lives have detached them from reality at such a remarkable level.” “Too many softies in this comment sections. Just cause your emotions don’t agree doesn’t mean it’s wrong” “There are two hunting season for grizzlies in Alaska… one April -June and the other August-October. It’s all for conservation methods. It is a state sanctioned hunt which helps with the predator population, which helps with moose and caribou populations, etc.” “The amount of people in the comments who gladly enjoy a steak or burger yet want to somehow act morally superior because they’ve removed themselves from the harvest portion of the consumption chain is astounding” “OMG people hunting is a sport that many people enjoy. Have you ever eaten bear?? It’s good. If you don’t like this well where do you get your meat, pork or poultry? They all have to be killed for you to eat it unless you eat it live.” At this point, it’s pretty much expected to see artists posting hunts like these to face backlash. Either way, congrats to CoJo for the successful trip in Alaska. The post “Trip Of A Lifetime”: Cody Johnson’s Alaskan Bear Hunt Draws Mixed Reactions From Fans first appeared on Whiskey Riff.